


In the Eye of the Storm

by Babenclaw



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Ah my MO, Could be relationship could be gen, Cute things, Gen, M/M, Storms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-17 01:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5849494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Babenclaw/pseuds/Babenclaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Storms were never a problem before, but they were not the same people before.</p><p>Post KH2 on the islands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Eye of the Storm

The crack of thunder and rumble of waves was so loud outside, Riku was sure it had to be at fault for waking him from his dead sleep. It took him a moment, blinking in the darkness broken by the occasional flash of lightning through his curtains, before his befuddled mind registered the chiming sound of his phone next to his bed.

Sora?

Riku flopped back down onto his pillow, blindly scooping his phone up from the nightstand and pressing it to his ear.

“Mnnh?” Riku grumbled into the phone, his mouth dry from sleep and his eyes already half closed. “S’ra?”

There was silence for a moment, the cracking of a live line with no noise.

A quiet sniffle. A shuffling of blankets.

“Are…” Sora whispered, and Riku had to strain to hear him over the crash of the water outside, the creaking of trees and the wind against his empty house. “Are you still here?”

Riku was confused for a moment, rubbing tiredly at his eyes and trying to force his exhausted brain into focus. “Hn? Sora…?”

Sora sniffled again, and Riku tried to ignore the twinge in his chest. Was Sora crying?

“Y-you haven’t left the island… right?”

“Course not, So’. I was asleep.”

“Oh.” A breathy sound, wispy, like a laugh with no strength behind it. Riku gripped his phone tighter, a strange and uncomfortable weight on his chest screaming that something was wrong. “’Kay.”

“You okay, Sora?” Riku cleared his throat, wishing he’d brought a bottle of water to bed with him. He sat up fully now, subconsciously looking for socks on his floor.

“Y-yeah, I—” The sound of thunder over the phone and outside his window nearly covered the sound of Sora’s whimpering, but the sound still rang through. Riku had his feet halfway into his shoes before he registered he was even out of bed, sockless and shirtless in the middle of a hurricane.

“I’m coming over, Sora.”

“N-no, you don’t have—”

“I know I don’t have to,” Riku responded quietly, absently tugging a t-shirt over his head. A second change of clothes went into a bag, which he quickly slung over his shoulder.

“I d-don’t want you outside in this…”

“I’ll be there in five minutes,” Riku responded, and ended the call.

. . .

When Riku skidded to a stop, soaking wet and cold as ice, outside of Sora’s house, he worried for a moment that Sora had fallen asleep and he would have to return to his house and deal with the fact that even this long after their separation, he still would always overreact when it came to Sora. By the time he’d thought this, however, standing dripping and shivering on Sora’s porch, the door was flung open and Riku was confronted with a fluffy teal towel. He stepped into the warm house gratefully, pulling the towel from Sora’s hands and wrapping it tightly around himself as he toed his soaked sneakers off.

He stood, barefoot and shivering slightly, in Sora’s living room for a moment before his eyes adjusted to the dark and he took in Sora in his entirety.

He was a mess, Riku registered absently, with his lithe body totally hidden in sweatpants and a sweatshirt and his blanket twined around his shoulders and dragging on the floor behind him. He looked pale and shaky, like the next crack of thunder would shatter him to pieces. He kept his arms firmly around his chest, a rabbit ready to dart if Riku said the wrong thing or moved too fast. Riku dried his hair on the towel and let it drop from his hands to pool next to his feet. The bag over his shoulders dropped on top of it as Riku carefully stepped forward toward Sora, holding his hand out like he would for a wild dog.

Sora’s eyes widened and he took a huge step back, a panicked noise dying in his throat. Riku immediately dropped his hand, looking confused and feeling lost.

“Sora?” he tried, forcing his voice to stay gentle and low. Sora shivered but stayed put. Riku sighed quietly and picked up his bag, fishing his change of clothes out.

“I’m going to go change, okay? And then we’ll get you back to bed.”

Sora didn’t move as Riku walked past him and up the stairs, changing quickly in the bathroom. When he opened the door, there Sora was, curled up against the wall opposite the door. Riku couldn’t remember ever seeing him this way. Sora was always so strong, the last person to show that he was suffering. Riku was left floundering here, trying to figure out what to do for someone who never, ever let himself fall apart like this. Wary of holding his hand out again, he instead quietly led the way into Sora’s bedroom, relieved to hear the deceptively light steps of the boy behind him. Riku left the door to the rest of the house open, sitting gently on the stripped bed and patting the space next to him. Sora hesitated, clearly, but the next clap of thunder sent him fleeing for the bed and the safety of curling into Riku’s side. Riku paused for a moment before wrapping an arm gently around his shoulder, fingers burying themselves into chocolate hair and gently rubbing against Sora’s scalp. Sora, his face pressed into Riku’s neck, exhaled a quiet whine. The tension in Sora’s shoulders worried Riku.

“Sora. What’s wrong?”

A quiet murmur, an exhale of breath. Riku smiled a bit and brushed a finger against Sora’s temple.

“Try again.”

Sora pulled back a little bit.

“Nightmare. You were gone.”

Riku gently ran his fingers along the line of Sora’s jaw. A nightmare?

“What was your nightmare about?”

Sora shivered and licked his lips, and Riku gently ran his fingers down Sora’s spine in an attempt to comfort him.

“The storm.”

Riku’s eyebrows rose a bit in surprise. The storm? Since when had Sora been afraid of thunderstorms?  They’d weathered plenty as kids, right up to the night—oh.

Oh.

How had he ever forgotten?

Shame raced through his veins, heady and fast, as he turned and wrapped both his arms around the smaller boy nestled into his side. Riku buried his face in chocolate spikes and tried to convey every ounce of regret through their many points of contact. Even now, this long later, Riku was still putting himself first, still not stopping to consider all the ways he’d hurt his best friend as  he raced away from all the things that had ever mattered to him. Sora carefully shifted, pressing his shivering body into Riku’s and breathing in the smell of rainwater, and under that salt and the musky smell he couldn’t but a name on other than Riku.

“I’m so, so sorry Sora,” Riku confessed hoarsely into the darkness, the rumble of thunder punctuating him. Sora shivered and untangled himself from his blanket, throwing it over both of them. “I—there are no words to excuse…”

Sora made a soft noise and slowly, hesitantly wrapped his arms around Riku in return, leaning backward until Riku had no choice but to relax back with him. Sora wrapped the blankets around them fully, resting his head on Riku’s chest where Riku knew he could hear his heart beat.

“I was a monster, Sora,” Riku said, his grip tightening. “I left, left you behind, fought you every step. How…” and here Riku’s voice went quiet, not even sure what he was asking. How can you forgive me? How can you look at me and see anybody but a killer? How can you even bare to touch me after everything I’ve done to you? How can you trust me?

Sora breathed gently against his neck, causing shivers to race down Riku’s spine, all of his attention focused on the warm breath from those lips, so close. “Just… Don’t leave again.”

Riku swallowed hard, amazed by Sora as usual. He didn’t deserve this, but here they were. His arms slowly wrapped their way around Sora’s waist, settling against his back as he pulled him just a little bit closer.

Together, they slept, as the storm outside raged on.

**Author's Note:**

> I have been churning these out like crazy. Stop me. (Don't stop me.)


End file.
